Ernst Roland Sandberg (born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker. Starting off his career with

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1910, the cl ...

in 1966, he went on to represent

Åtvidabergs FF Åtvidabergs Fotbollförening, also known simply as Åtvidabergs FF, Åtvidaberg, Åtvid or (especially locally) ÅFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Åtvidaberg. The club is affiliated with Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and ...

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

, and

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

before his retirement in 1981. A full international between 1969 and 1976, he won 37

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and scored 15 goals for the Sweden national team. He was a part of the Sweden team that finished fifth at the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Born in Karlskrona, Sandberg began his footballing career with Jämjö GoIF and Lyckeby GoIF before signing with

in 1955. In 1970, he signed with

with which he won two Allsvenskan titles, two

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

titles, and was the

Allsvenskan top scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football. is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ... Association football player non-biographical articles ...

in both 1971 and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

. In 1973, he signed with German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

outfit

, where he spent four years and contributed with 60 goals in 118 league games. After a career-threatening knee injury in 1976, he retired from professional football the following year. In 1979, after a new surgery, Sandberg made his footballing comeback and spent the last couple of seasons of his career with his former club Kalmar FF as well as a brief stint with

in 1981 before he once again was forced to retire because of his knee problems.

International career

Youth

Sandberg represented the Sweden U21 team a total of six times between 1969 and 1972, scoring 3 goals.

Senior

Sandberg made his full international debut for Sweden on 6 August 1969, replacing

Leif Eriksson Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North ...

at halftime in a friendly 1–0 win against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. He scored his first international goal during the

1968–71 Nordic Football Championship The 1968–71 Nordic Football Championship was the tenth tournament staged. Four Nordic countries participated: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Sweden won the tournament, its eighth Nordic Championship win. Results 1968 1969 ...

in a 3–0 win against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

on 8 August 1971. He represented Sweden at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where he scored goals against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

as Sweden finished fifth. He won his 37th and final

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

in a 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Norway on 16 June 1976, being replaced by Jan Mattsson in the 37th minute after sustaining a serious knee injury.

Career statistics

International

: ''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sandberg goal''.

Honours

Åtvidabergs FF * Allsvenskan:

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

1. FC Kaiserslautern *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

finalist: 1975–76 Individual *

: 1971,

(shared with

Ralf Edström Ralf Sigvard Edström (born 7 October 1952) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as Sweden's best player in the 1970s, he started off his career with Degerfors IF in the late 1960s and went on t ...

) * Stor Grabb: 1973

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandberg, Roland 1946 births Living people Swedish footballers Sweden international footballers Swedish expatriate footballers Allsvenskan players Åtvidabergs FF players BK Häcken players Kalmar FF players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players Expatriate footballers in Germany 1974 FIFA World Cup players Bundesliga players Association football forwards People from Karlskrona Sportspeople from Blekinge County